Tomball sweeps Montgomery

Montgomery's Jared Eaton reacts to an out during Friday night’s Region III-4A playoff game against Tomball.

Montgomery's Jared Eaton reacts to an out during Friday night’s Region III-4A playoff game against Tomball.

Photo: Staff Photo By Eric Swist

Photo: Staff Photo By Eric Swist

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Montgomery's Jared Eaton reacts to an out during Friday night’s Region III-4A playoff game against Tomball.

Montgomery's Jared Eaton reacts to an out during Friday night’s Region III-4A playoff game against Tomball.

Photo: Staff Photo By Eric Swist

Tomball sweeps Montgomery

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MONTGOMERY — Tomball needed a walk-off home run to beat Montgomery in Game 1 of their Region III-4A playoff series.

Game 2 was another story.

The Cougars chased Bears starting pitcher Collin Garrett in the second inning and cruised to a 16-4 victory on Friday night to sweep the series.

“I don’t think it was any lingering effect (from Thursday night’s 4-2 loss),” Montgomery coach Chris Morris said. “We just ran into a quality team. They hit, they pitched, they made all the plays.

“Tomball is going to be tough to beat.”

The Cougars improved to 32-4 on the season and will face Richmond Foster in the regional final. Foster swept Barbers Hill in a best-of-three series.

The Bears, a state semifinalist last year, finish their season 30-7-1.

Montgomery bolted to a 3-0 lead when Tomball made two errors in the bottom of the first inning. But Garrett struggled with his control and the Cougars were quick to pounce in the second.

“Collin just couldn’t locate his fastball tonight,” Morris said.

Two hit batsmen allowed Tomball to load the bases with one out, and Anthony Lucas and Dillon Menville produced run-scoring hits — Menville’s single to center field brought two runs across the plate — before Morris went to his bullpen.

Eric Dunbar, the winning pitcher, greeted Bears reliever Mason Mize with an RBI single to center. Mize gave up a bases-loaded walk before Cougars catcher Casey Smith made it 8-3 with a two-run single to right-center field.

“We had a bad first inning, but our kids played with a lot of confidence,” Tomball coach Doug Rush said. “We had good pitching and 16 hits. We showed some pitching depth in this series.”

Nick Banks, the Cougars’ dynamic leadoff man, belted a Mize pitch over the right-field fence for a leadoff home run in the third. Menville added an RBI single, but Mize avoided further damage.

Montgomery’s Bodhi Bell lined a pitch from Dunbar into center field for a two-run single in the first. Bell walked with two outs to put runners on the corners with two outs in the third, but Jared Eaton grounded out to end the threat.

Ishmael Edwards, who hit the dramatic home run to beat the Bears with two outs in the bottom of the seventh in Game 1, had an RBI single in the fourth. The Cougars scored another run on a Montgomery error in that inning.

Bell had two of the Bears’ four hits.

Tomball added four runs in the top of the seventh against Montgomery relievers Brock Tipton and Gunner Vaught.